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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    My guess is that it moves production to the Lacrosse line and becomes a livery only vehicle... which is an utter shame because it is a fantastic vehicle especially in VSport form... it just isn't the image Cadillac is shooting for and I understand that. But isn't a CTS a better vehicle? The XTS as a livery only vehicle makes sense, it serves that market and protects the "real" Cadillacs so to speak from fleet sales. The market is moving, and if Cadillac wants to go on this quest after the Germans they need to build an image and the XTS doesn't build the right image.
  2. smk4565
    They need a car to offer higher levels of luxury than the Escalade. Part of Cadillac's problem is a dressed up Tahoe is their best vehicle and a CTS with a Corvette engine is their other. You can't rely on Chevy parts to go against the world's best, you need a little better. So my hope is the CT6 brings luxury and technology that surpasses any of their current line. And perhaps a CT8, or CT9 will come along to set a new standard. The Escaldade has been a bright spot for them, they need to pull some of those styling cues into a smaller crossover so you have Escalade feel, but at $50k. Sort of what Land Rover did with the Evoque, you create Range Rover feel at a lower price point.
  3. smk4565
    There must be 1.5 million badge snobs born every year to keep that Mercedes factory rolling then. Mercedes maintenance is costly but it depends on what it is, and usually it is because the parts are more expensive than what you get in a Toyota or Chevy. The spark plug change/tune-up service that is every 91,000 miles is about $550, but it includes some other BS checks and inspections and lubricate this and that, and an oil change. A stand alone oil change on my car which is the V8 using 9.5 quarts of Mobil 1, is $127 plus tax at the Mercedes dealer and it lasts one year or 13,000 miles. I think $130 per year for oil changes is pretty reasonable. The ripoff service is the transmission fluid and filter change on the 7-speed auto, for some reason it is $403.
  4. smk4565
    Aluminum body and Cadillac's own engine line are good news. I'd rather see Cadillac do an inline six as opposed to a V6, for one they are better balanced and two it won't get confused with the V6 in a Chevy or Buick, because an inline six probably isn't fitting in those cars. Although the Jaguar XJ and Audi A8 have an aluminum body and supercharged V6 and are the 2 worst sellers in the full size luxury sedan class, aside from the Maserati Quatroporte. Cadillac should make a V12 for the CT6-V and an SUV above Escalade, unless they want to do an Escalde V to compete with the G65 AMG.
  5. smk4565
    Anyone that buys a $100k car isn't driving cross country, they are buying a plane ticket for $400. The Tesla's range is fine for 95% of driving. The Tesla does have image going for it, it has some wow factor, and it is a cool car to have. The Cadillac brand still has baggage to get rid of. I get that they are working on it, but it is still there.
  6. smk4565
    The automatic probably makes it faster than the manual. And perhaps AWD is planned for the future and maybe that won't pair with a manual.
  7. smk4565
    The 0-60 time doesn't really matter that much, as I said earlier the margins between a CTS-V, M5, AMG, S6, Panamera, etc are so slim and most normal drivers couldn't tell the difference. Without a race car driver on a race track you couldn't really tell which car is fastest. I do think if the CTS-V interior was in the ATS 2.0t it would be a better match for the C-class.
  8. smk4565
    I just thought of something else. This sets up a nice $100k American luxury sedan competition with the Tesla D-85. The Tesla is faster than the CTS-V and no fuel costs. Intriguing competition there with the gas vs electric.
  9. smk4565
    I like the styling more than the base CTS, the base car looks boring, the styling adjustments liven it up and make it more interesting. Not a fan of the carbon fiber package, I think the carbon fiber spoiler looks horrible (like those boy racer XKR-S Jaguars) it goes too far and looks tacky. But that is optional, so no big deal. I give them a well done on the styling, and the base CTS is a car I am not a big fan of styling wise. Huge power, from a marketing standpoint it will be easy to advertise the 640 hp and how it is most powerful car in the segment. But you wonder if they should have invested in all wheel drive instead of just more power, because power is only good if you can put it on the ground. An Audi A6 with only 420 hp does 0-60 in 3.7 seconds because of the gearing and awd. Even if Cadillac's number is conservative, which I doubt because they claimed 3.9 on the last car and that is what it was, I don't see them beating 3.5 and the all wheel drive AMG's can do that now. But they gave the car the power and top speed an acceleration it needs, the margins are all so slim between all these sub 4 second sedans that a normal driver on a normal road won't be able to get any where near the limit. I think on product execution, well done to Cadillac. The problem is it is still a CTS, and if it is priced like an E63, it becomes a $100,000 CTS and is the market going to pay that? The market didn't want a $77k STS or a $76k XLR, Cadillac cars struggle in that upper price range.
  10. smk4565
    It was more like a wealthy man's Accord coupe. You'd think for a $90,000 price you would get more than 270 hp.
  11. smk4565
    If it is S-class size, then this is a big car. The S-class is over 206 inches long. What makes this car eagerly anticipated is Cadillac has said they want to be on par with the Germans, and there is no bankruptcy excuse that can be used, that could have been used 5 years ago. This is their shot into the upper end of the luxury market, which is a place Infiniti, Acura, Cadillac, Lincoln, Volvo, etc have either failed at or not tried to get into that segment. Even Lexus after 25 years of the LS sells it way cheaper than the European V8 rivals, and the LS in some ways feels like a big Toyota inside, to Drew's point, a lot of the window switches in an LS460 are the same you find in a Camry or Avalon.
  12. smk4565
    From the spy photos it looks more like an XTS than any of their concept cars. I expect mild styling, nothing dramatic. I will say this car will be interesting in many ways. For one they are going further upmarket than ever before, so the execution of that will be interesting. We know it is about 7-series or LS460 sized, so how they price it and what will it be up against? And then how does it influence the rest of the lineup and where do they go after it? I'm curious to see the final product and to see how it sells.
  13. smk4565
    Well Audi has to discount, they aren't as good as Mercedes. 3-series are really cheap, I myself am surprised at how low the price starts, but then again they put zero equipment at all on those base cars, and the 328i starts at $37,500 and $39,500 for awd, which is pretty close to C300 pricing. I want to see a C250 bluetec, that is supposed to be coming, but I don't know if they would price it any lower than the C300.
  14. smk4565
    Not when it is V6 from an Accord, or costs more than a Corvette. I think the Corvette is a great product, I almost don't like that they try to push it up market and do the $100,000 versions, because the Corvette is supposed to be the every man's sports car. The Corvette is about value or at least it should be. This is why I wish Cadillac had a $100,000+ sports car so there is no need for a Corvette above the Z06, and the Corvette can stay true to it roots. Without reading anything about this upcoming NSX, other than hearing that a hybrid may be used, I would guess the powertrain is the Acura RLX hybrid V6 deal with like 350 hp and a 6-speed auto. The interior won't be any better, might even be worse, so you care getting a $50k car interior and powertrain for $100,000. The NSX is one of the biggest rip offs in car history. The whole Acura brand should just be closed down to save themselves future embarrassment.
  15. smk4565

    Flops?

    smk4565 replied to Drew Dowdell's topic in The Lounge

    The Chrysler-Benz merger was a flop for sure. A foolish idea from the start, and a money loser for Daimler, and Chrysler ended up in Bankruptcy 3 years after it ended. Really the whole 10 years Jurgen Schrempp was CEO of Daimler was a flop, he did nothing well. He let quality drop from the standards set in the 80s, put out the worst E-class of all (1996-2002), started Maybach of a previous generation S-class and did the Chrysler merger. Dr. Z cleaned up that mess and more so, he and Alan Mullally I think are the top 2 auto executives of the past 25 years.
  16. smk4565
    The base ATS has no power though, 200 hp, 190 lb-ft or something, the CLA has 258 lb-ft of torque and a 7-speed transmission, and Mercedes styling and badge are probably enough to get them to sell, plus the CLA gets 38 mpg highway in fwd trim, that is pretty good. I personally wouldn't consider a CLA because of the FWD roots, but people buying a $35k car probably aren't too worried about drive wheels, especially when AWD is offered. Look at all the fwd crossovers that sell, they are actually preferred to the rear drive ones, and compared to an Acura ILX or Lexus CT200, the CLA looks like a peach. If Cadillac wants the ATS to line up against the C-class, that means $40k base price, that would open up room for Buick, but then the CTS at $44k needs to go up to $50k, and can Cadillac get sales doing that? They are struggling as it is.
  17. smk4565
    I can't wait, I LOVE $100,000 cars with a 3.5 liter V6 out of an Accord.
  18. smk4565

    Flops?

    smk4565 replied to Drew Dowdell's topic in The Lounge

    Volkswagen Phaeton! I'd say Pontiac Aztek, but they got the Rendezvous out of it and it was built off an existing platform, so the investment was probably low for the number of crossovers and minivans sold. The entire Hummer brand I think was a flop, because while Toyota pumped money into the Prius, GM put their dollars behind the Hummer. They may have made big margins on the trucks they sold, but the PR damage was big and when gas prices skyrocketed, Hummer tanked, GM went bankrupt, and there was Toyota with the Prius as the darling of the media. And perception is reality in the mind of the consumer.
  19. smk4565
    Reliability does hurt VW here, maybe in Europe they get away with it because they have a lot of 50-60 mpg diesels and there might just not be enough competitors in the small car space, other than Fiat who has worse reliability and Hyundai/Kia/Honda aren't powerhouses in Europe, so it leaves Ford to compete with. Skoda and Seat seems like overlap though with the lower end of VW. VW at least keeps their luxury brands unique.
  20. smk4565
    Ding, Ding Ding! Not enough body style or engine choices, not enough crossovers, and 2003 was the original quest to take on the Germans, it has been 12 years now. C-class coupe comes out December 2015, convertible in March 2016, so they will have done, sedan, wagon, AMG, coupe and convertible in an 18 month time frame. Cadillac probably doesn't need a wagon since that is a European body style, so all they have to do is 3 body styles in 18 months, that should be doable.
  21. smk4565
    The groupings are insane, if a DB9 or Phantom Coupe is a compact they shouldn't have gas guzzler tax. And the Mulsanne is like 214 inches long. Size class should not be interior volume but exterior footprint. Try fitting a Phantom Coupe into a compact space at a parking garage. It might not even fit in a regular space.
  22. smk4565
    VW has profit centers like Lamborghini, Bentley and Porsche. Low volume but those cars have $20,000+ profit per unit, Audi runs at a 10% net margin too. VW brand just has to break even. Instead of these new entrants they should just buy Fiat-Chrysler and reorganize the whole thing cutting overlap, then they would have every segment imaginable covered.
  23. smk4565
    Group one meets European pedestrian impact standards, while group two does not meet American crash standards anymore.
  24. smk4565
    Same number of airbags
  25. smk4565
    First group all have DOHC engines and automatic transmission and ABS.
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